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The Whole Nine Yards
The Whole Nine Yards2000
"In the heart of suburbia, a hitman with heart has just moved in."
Directed By Jonathan Lynn
Written By Mitchell Kapner
Cast Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Rosanna Arquette, Amanda Peet, Michael Clarke Duncan
Produced By Allan Kaufman, David Willis
Cinematography By David Franco
Film Editing By Tom Lewis
Music By Randy Edelman
Studio Morgan Creek Productions
Distributed By Warner Bros. Pictures
Country United States, Canada
Language English
Release Date February 18, 2000
Runtime 98 Minutes
Rating R
Budget $41,300,000
Gross $106,371,651


Overview[]

The Whole Nine Yards is a 2000 American-Canadian produced black comedy-crime film that features an all-star cast including Bruce Willis, Michael Clarke Duncan, Matthew Perry, and Natasha Henstridge. It was directed by Johnathan Lynn.

The origin of the title is derived from the American colloquialism; "the whole nine yards" which means 'everything, the whole lot' or 'all the way in'. It also had a 2004 sequel known as The Whole Ten Yards that was not as successful or popular as its predecessor.

You meet all kinds in suburbia.   

It attracts all kinds looking to live the quiet life after all. Such as Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky, a henpecked and depressed dentist who is busy paying off the massive debts of his harpy of a wife's father.  Or Jimmy "the Tulip" Tudeski, a ex-hit man for the mob who turned state witness and is Oz's new next door neighbor. 

Jimmy's interest in suburbia is mainly because he's trying to lie low since he has a contract out on his head by the vengeful mob.

And Oz's wife has a not-so cunning plan to cash in on it.

So much for the quiet life...

Plot[]

Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky is a mild mannered and deeply depressed dentist. Before committing suicide, his father-in-law and partner in their dental practice not only embezzled from the business but left them deeply in debt and scandal. Leaving their home in Chicago, he and his wife, Sophie and mother-in-law have returned to his wife's hometown of Montreal, Canada.

His hateful mother-in-law loathes Oz and his parasite of a wife is making his home life miserable while intending to leech off him until their debt is paid off. But an increasingly unhappy and morose Oz can't afford to divorce her as in the end: he's "worth more dead than alive," he mournfully jokes to his new and sympathetic dental assistant, Jill.

Things take a frightening turn when a new neighbor moves in next door and Oz introduces himself. Afterwards, Oz belatedly recognizes his new neighbor as Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski, a notorious hitman from the Gogolak Gang back in Chicago. Tudeski gave evidence that sent Lazlo Gogolak, the Mafia Boss and several key members to jail and is now apparently lying low in Montreal since he has a hefty price on his head by Janni, the current head of the Gogolaks and Lazlo's son.

9yards jimmy-oz-meet

Oz and Jimmy Meet

Later, Jimmy stops by and intimidates Oz into showing him around town. Despite a rocky start, Oz finds himself inherently liking Jimmy who admits that he likes Oz as well and the two part as good neighbors and casual friends.

Sophie however sees this as a golden opportunity for them as Oz can fly to Chicago and turn in Tudeski for a 'finder's fee' to the Gogolaks. Oz dismisses her plan as crazy but readily agrees when she offers to give him a divorce in exchange ... or she'll make the last couple of years of their loveless marriage appear to be a pleasure cruise.

Upon arriving in Chicago, Oz has lunch with an old friend whom he relates his whole situation in public. Oz cheerfully dismisses his friend's concerns as he has no intention of searching out the Gogolak Gang but rather seeing this as a brief vacation from Sophie and Canada and after a few days, he'll fly back to Montreal claiming he couldn't find the Gogolaks. Meanwhile, Sophie immediately rushes over to Jimmy Tudeski's home where she proceeds to cheerfully spill the beans on where her husband is going and what he's up to; apparently in hopes of getting Jimmy to kill Oz for her.

9yards oz-talks

Frankie "convinces" Oz

Oz inadvertently discovers that the Gogolaks have a lot of connections when he discovers Franklin "Frankie Figs" Figueroa lurking in his hotel room. A freelance hitman who works occasionally for the Gogolaks; Frankie Figs has learned that Oz knows where Tudeski is. After roughing him up, Oz reluctantly gives up the information to Frankie who takes Oz out to Janni Gogolak's estate where Oz encounters and quickly falls head over heels with Cynthia Tudeski, long-time and estranged separated wife of Jimmy.

Janni orders Frankie to go to Canada and verify Jimmy's presence and to keep an eye on the dentist. After returning to the hotel, Oz is visited by Cynthia who cynically wants to know what he's expecting out of this and realizes that hapless Oz is an innocent bystander who has accidentally stumbled into this whole mess and can't see a way out of it. Cynthia breaks down and Oz comforts her as she reveals that she is just as trapped as he is; both of them commiserating about the mutual presence of the Gogolaks and Jimmy in their lives.

She subsequently reveals that she, Jimmy, and Janni have a trust account for $10 million dollars in their names set up years ago by Lazlo for tax reasons. In essence, no one person can remove it unless the other two happen to have legal death certificates. Thus both Jimmy and Janni need the other and her dead in order to collect their 10 million dollar payday. Ironically enough, while Jimmy has no problem with the idea of killing Cynthia; he steadfastly refuses to divorce her viewing it as a cardinal Catholic sin, viewing their marriage vows as "until death do us part" with her doing the eventual departing bit.

Both Cynthia and Oz share a moment together and make love with Oz vowing to somehow protect her.

Returning to Canada with Frankie Figs in tow, Oz walks into Frankie's hotel room only to discover to his shock and momentary horror that Jimmy is sitting calmly inside. He is further dumbfounded to discover that Jimmy had actually called Frankie in order to bring Oz to Janni. Jimmy reveals that he and Frankie have been plotting to take down Janni and split the $10 million trust account and they have set this up as Janni will want to see Jimmy's execution in person and will leave his heavily fortified estate and most of his guards behind.

9yards watchyourback

Watch Your Back Oz! Your Wife has Hired a Hitman!

Jimmy is actually very thankful to Oz as Frankie had told him how he had been forced to rough him up to get him to talk; revealing that he thinks Oz as a real stand-up guy and a good friend. Jimmy is also rather contemptuous of Sophie who tried to manipulate him into killing Oz. He relates how she tried to seduce him only for him to turn her down. Oz is rather shocked and guilt-ridden when Jimmy moralistically states that friends do not have sexual congress with their friend's wives. Oz is further surprised as Jimmy remarks that he doesn't find Sophie that attractive due to her personality and is not a very good person. Oz retorts that Jimmy is a contract killer who has killed 17 people. Jimmy philosophically relates how "it's not important how many people that I've killed. What's important is how I get along with the people still alive."

Compounding Oz's shock is that Jimmy's revelation that Sophie has apparently been looking for a killer-for-hire to murder Oz for his life insurance, bleakly confirming Oz's earlier joking about being "worth more dead than alive". She sought to employ Jimmy after her last attempt at a hitter fell through for some reason and he speculates that she's shopping around for a new one. Sophie is indeed busy at work recruiting her new hitter and is currently at Niagara Falls, having sex with her latest would-be hitman to give her a discount on his price.

A shaken and nervous Oz attempts to return to work while Jimmy and Frankie start prepping for Janni's arrival only to discover that he is too frightened to concentrate. His dental assistant, Jill is worried over his clumsier than normal behavior and attempts to help him when he inadvertently reveals that he knows that his wife is trying to kill him and his neighbor is the infamous Jimmy Tudeski. Jill immediately demands to meet him and subsequently reveals that she is a huge fan of Jimmy's work and is attempting to become a professional contract killer herself and that Sophie was her first client to both Jimmy and Oz.

An embarrassed Jill admits that she had gotten herself hired as Oz's assistant to get close to Oz in order to learn his habits. However, she quickly found herself liking him too much to kill him and backed out of her contract with Sophie. Jimmy is sympathetic, admitting that while getting close to the target was smart, she had gotten too close. He admits that he had liked his first contract kill as well and had been on the verge of letting him escape when he double crossed Jimmy.

Jill and Jimmy Whole-9-Yards gun-scene

Preparing for Janni Gogolack

Both Jill and Jimmy begin flirting heavily and Jimmy quickly offers her to work with him and Frankie to kill Janni Gogolak. Oz subsequently learns that Frankie has talked to Janni to confirm Jimmy's presence and is bringing Cynthia with him which Jimmy is thrilled about as he can kill her too. Oz immediately tries to convince Jimmy not to kill either one, but mostly Cynthia. Jimmy however is adamant and threatens Oz not to screw this up for him because he would really hate to have to kill him instead.

That night at Oz's home; Janni, Frankie, and a small group of mobsters are waiting for Jimmy to fall asleep. Cynthia and Oz manage to sneak off for a brief moment where she reveals that she came to warn Oz that Janni intends to remove any potential witnesses to his murderous acts and Oz is to be killed after Jimmy's execution. Oz counters with the revelation that Jimmy and Frankie are working together and Janni is walking into a trap, but Oz has a plan. Meanwhile Jimmy and Jill are waiting for the hitters to try and ambush them and unknown to either party; Sophie and her new hitman arrive to kill Oz.

Sophie's hitman is surprised at the group of men leaving Oz's house to break into the house next door and recognizes Janni Gogolak, leaving the car to investigate. Meanwhile, Cynthia and Oz make a break for it even as Janni and his goons are taken aback by the sight of a completely naked Jill inside the house. The timely distraction allows Jimmy and Frankie to kill them all. Sophie's hitman stumbles into the fray and is killed as well, resulting in a terrified Sophie fleeing into the night.

Oz-and-cynthia whole-9-yards 64785

"I have an idea..."

An annoyed Jimmy discovers that Sophie's hitman is actually an undercover cop and afterwards Oz calls Jimmy to try and explain the situation with Cynthia. Jimmy is completely enraged when Jill realizes that Oz has slept with Cynthia but manages to regain control after Oz explains his plan. Arriving at Oz's dental clinic with the dead bodies, the group proceed to remove the dead cop's fingerprints and then Oz alters the deceased cop's teeth to match Jimmy's dental impressions. Janni's and the dead cop's bodies are then torched in Oz's car to prevent any identification save for dental records.

Several days later, the police approach Oz as being the owner of the torched car and he informs them that he had lent to his neighbor, Jimmy to go fishing. The police reveals that there were two bodies inside which they have identified via dental impressions as Janni Gogolak and Jimmy Tudeski and ask that Oz accompany them to Jimmy's house. There, the police discover the bodies of Janni's men inside and also notice a parked car nearby that belongs to one of their undercover agents, Special Agent Steve Hanson who is overdue for his check-in report. The cops search the car and discover that Hanson had been taping his conversations with Sophie which detail her murder-for-hire plot and suspect that she killed the undercover agent. Sophie is subsequently arrested along with her co-conspirator, her mother with Oz now having legitimate grounds for divorcing her.

After receiving the death certificates, Cynthia goes with Jill to withdraw the money from the bank while Oz and Jimmy are en route to a museum where Oz believes he will be safe as Jimmy will not try to kill him in public. His clever plan is derailed by Frankie who instead diverts them to a sailing yacht where the trio will be all alone. Out on the water, Frankie is disturbed because he senses that Jimmy is ambivalent about killing Oz and offers to take care of it himself if Jimmy is unable to. Jimmy retorts that while he still likes Oz; business is still business and he will take care of it personally.

Meanwhile Cynthia has withdrawn the $10 million when Jill suggests that she and Cynthia can simply split the money, leaving Oz to his fate. However Cynthia realizes that she could do that but it would mean Oz's death and she loves him and cannot sell him out.

Jimmy receives a phone call from Jill who confirms that they have the money and he pulls out his gun to aim at Oz, causing Frankie to grin knowingly. This ends when Jimmy abruptly turns and shoots Frankie who falls off the boat and into the water. Oz is horrified until Jimmy explains that he had to kill one of them and that had he failed to kill Oz, Frankie would eventually have turned on him too.

Jill is pleased at Cynthia's answer, admitting that she had asked the question to test Cynthia's resolve. While she deposits the bulk of the money into Jimmy's account, she then proceeds to set up one million dollars in an account for Dr. Nicholas and Cynthia Oseransky and as a condition, they will only be able to withdraw the money once she and Oz are married; explaining it as an early wedding gift from Jimmy. Afterwards, Jill meets up with Jimmy and Oz and she jumps into Jimmy's arms, kissing him and tells Oz that Cynthia is waiting for him.

Cynthia is disappointed when Oz immediately asks her to marry him when he sees her and asks if Jimmy told him. When Oz is confused, Cynthia realizes that Jimmy didn't tell him about the million dollars and that he just wants to marry her simply because of her and tearfully agrees. Oz warns that he's only a poor dentist but Cynthia slyly admits that somehow she thinks they'll get by...

Cast[]

  • Bruce Willis as Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski
  • Matthew Perry as Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky
  • Rosanna Arquette as Sophie Oseransky
  • Michael Clarke Duncan as Franklin "Frankie Figs" Figueroa
  • Natasha Henstridge as Cynthia Tudeski
  • Amanda Peet as Jill St. Claire
  • Kevin Pollak as Janni Pytor Gogolak
  • Harland Williams as Steve Hanson
  • Carmen Ferland as Sophie's Mom
  • Serge Christianssens as Mr. Boulez
  • Renee Madeline Le Guerrier as Waitress
  • Howard Bilerman as Dave Martin
  • Johnny Goar as Hungarian Hood
  • Deano Clavet as Polish Pug
  • Stephanie Biddle as Jazz Singer
  • Robert Burns as Mr. Tourette
  • France Arbour as Mrs. Boulez
  • Sean Devine as Sergeant Buchanan
  • Richard Jutras as Officer Morrissey
  • Rumer Willis as Girl Running Between Jimmy and Oz

Production[]

Matthew Perry was announced to be starring in the film project alongside Bruce Willis in April of 1999.

The Whole Nine Yards was shot from May 23 through July 16, 1999 in order to accommodate the demands of star, Matthew Perry who was simultaneously starring in the popular Friends TV series, thus allowing him to shoot his sequences during the hiatus between the Sixth and Seventh Season of the series. It was shot primarily in Montreal, Quebec, Canada although certain scenes were shot on location at Niagara Falls and Chicago, Illinois.

Additional/Alternate Movie Taglines[]

  • Life's a comedy. It's all in the execution.
  • In the heart of suburbia, a hit man with heart has just moved in.

Reception[]

The Whole Nine Yards was released on February 18, 2000 in 2,910 theaters alongside Hanging Up; Pitch Black; and Boiler Room. It immediately hit the number one spot that weekend with a total gross of $13,731,070. It maintained its front runner spot for the next three weekends but quickly dropped in the rankings for the rest of its 13-week run at the box office. Overall, The Whole Nine Yards earned a total of $57,262,492 domestically and $49,109,159 internationally. It is and remains the sole financial success of its production company, Franchise Pictures.

The Rotten Tomatoes website gave it a 45% "Rotten" approval rating with Metacritic scored it with a "47 out of 100". The film has received mixed reviews from other critics.

It was successful enough that it spawned a sequel, The Whole Ten Yards, released in 2004 which reunited most the principal cast save for Michael Duncan Clarke whose character was killed off during the previous movie. There was also a 2002 Bollywood remake Aware Paagal Deewana that was heavily based on the movie.

External Links[]

IMDb

Trailer[]

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